Menominee make final pitch; argue other tribes agree to Kenosha casino

Claiming every tribe in the state has essentially approved its proposed off-reservation Kenosha casino, the Menominee tribe late Tuesday submitted its final arguments aimed at winning Gov. Scott Walker's approval for the project.

Copies of the documents were not released Tuesday, but sources said tribal officials believe their complex legal argument will show that each of the state's other 10 tribes approved the project — one of the three criteria Walker has said must be met to win his OK. The Forest County Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk tribes reject that argument.

"We are optimistic that we will fulfill the governor's criteria," Menominee Chairman Craig Corn said in a statement issued shortly before the final proposal was submitted to the administration.

But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), whose district is close to the proposed casino site, said that he has talked with Walker about the issue and acknowledged that so far the governor has given supporters of the Kenosha casino little reason to hope.

"It's not looking good," said Vos, a close ally of the governor.

The proposed $800 million casino project was approved by the U.S. Department of Interior in August. Federal law, however, gives Walker final say on whether the project could move forward.

Walker, in turn, said this year he was giving each of the other Wisconsin tribes veto power when he said he would approve the proposal only if every other Wisconsin tribe approved it. He also has said the casino must have community support and that a Kenosha casino would result in "no new net gaming" — a term the administration has refused to define publicly.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Sunday that the Menominee are arguing that the Potawatomi and the Ho-Chunk — the two casino-rich tribes that have steadfastly opposed the Kenosha casino plan — actually, in effect, approved the concept years ago when they signed gaming compacts with the state. Those agreements required each tribe to be made financially whole if it lost business to a new Wisconsin casino.

"We believe that through the existing gaming compacts and the support we've received from other tribes, we have reached consensus for our project among the tribes," Corn said his statement.

In addition, sources said the Menominee proposal offers to pay more than their promised 7.5% of the net win at a new off-reservation casino to the state. The state, in turn, would lower the payments made to it by the Potawatomi and the Ho-Chunk.

The new money would be used to reimburse tribes that could prove they lost money to a new Kenosha casino.

The Menominee are also arguing that a new Kenosha casino will result in "no new net gaming" because it will be located at the closed Dairyland Greyhound Park — a site where state sanctioned gambling had taken place. The tribe would also close a small casino/bingo hall on its reservation in Keshena. A larger casino on the reservation would stay open.

The Menominee documents also include projections arguing that the new casino would create about 5,000 direct and indirect jobs; and would have a lesser impact on jobs in Milwaukee than the Potawatomi claim. The Potawatomi have said the Milwaukee area would lose about 3,000 jobs to a Kenosha casino.

Both the Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi, however, continue to oppose the Kenosha casino.

The Menominee will also argue that there is a huge untapped market in northern Illinois and that the new casino would attract the bulk of its customers from that market.

Earlier projections by the Menominee claim the casino would eventually win more than $500 million a year from gamblers. By comparison, the Potawatomi casino in Milwaukee wins nearly $400 million and the Rivers Casino near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport won about $416 million last year.

Corn and James Allen, the chairman of Hard Rock International, are scheduled to meet with Walker Wednesday morning to make their final arguments. Hard Rock, which is owned by the Seminole tribe in Florida, recently signed on to develop and manage the casino, if it is built.

Walker has said he would make a decision on the Kenosha proposal by Friday.

In a related development, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign said Tuesday that the Potawatomi contributed $35,000 to the Republican State Leadership Committee in September. The donation, which is listed on IRS reports, is in addition to the $42,500 the GOP group that provides support to legislative campaigns received earlier from the Potawatomi and the Ho-Chunk tribes over the past two years, the watchdog group said.

Since July 2011, the Potawatomi have also contributed $150,900 to the Republican Governors Association, including a $50,000 gift in February.

Mary Burke, the Democrat running against Walker in next year's election, said in an interview this week that as governor she would consider whether a proposed casino would result in a net increase in jobs for the state.

"I would look at it in a bigger-picture way," she said. "I don't think we want to look at it in a way where you're taking jobs from one area of the state and putting it in another...I would really look at it and have an analysis done as to whether our market is saturated or not, or whether there actually is an opportunity to create more jobs overall."

Jason Stein and Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this article.

About Cary Spivak

Cary Spivak does investigative business projects and covers the casino industry. He has won numerous state and national awards.